The thoughts and musings of a man at the precipice of middle age, starting from his 50th birthday.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Quest III, Part V: Minus Two, One Triangle, Minus One

Our last full day there started very slowly with everyone getting up and moving in slow motion. I think that we were all starting to get a bit tired but at the same time we were being driven on by the energy of the fun we were having being together and riding.

Today was going to be like the day before with everyone heading off in different directions. Tikk, my son and I were going to go ride the Devil's Triangle. Everyone else was heading for the top of the Tail to get HBC's bike pinstriped. Apparently, the guy up there was charging a good price and he was showing a significant amount of talent.

HBC & Kent were also leaving that day. So, I took a few minutes to say goodbye to each of them and tell him how much I appreciated their putting the cabin rental together and just being terrific people. They would be relocating after the trip so this would be the last time I would ride with them for a while. Good people…Alabama folks take good care of them.

Everybody took off and our group made a stop at a Denny's to have a leisurely breakfast. We were actually killing time because a friend of Tikk's was going to join us and might show us in different roads to ride. We made a couple of other stops and then Tikk got a phone call that his friend was going to make it we were on our own. We mounted up and headed towards the Devil's Triangle.

The start of this particular trail was approximately 30 minutes away from where we were.

The Devil's Triangle is made up of four different highways that more or less join to form a triangle. This turned out to be my favorite road to ride while down there. It was different from any of the others because there were a lot of wide sweeping turns and fewer switchback curves. As a result, you could actually enjoy some of the scenery as you are writing because you are not constantly concentrating on what the road was doing. The Tail might be the best technical riding, but this was the best overall ride.

The video below will give you some sample of what the highway was like. Is easy to tell we were moving along at a much higher speed than the other videos.

Once we completed the ride, we stopped to grab a late lunch at a small family-run Mexican restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of it because it was actually good and I would love to recommend it.

We also stopped at the local Harley dealership. I wanted to pick up a pair of Guardian bells for HBC & Kent -- Wakko wanted to pick up a gift for a friend of his as well.

We picked up part one of a three-part puzzle pin set. The other two parts are only available at the Harley dealerships in Knoxville and Gatlinburg. Eventually we will get the other two parts. When you put all three parts together, it forms the image of a Dragon. Cool souvenir.

When we got back to the cabin, we found out that GrnEyes had changed her mind and had left early so that she would not be riding back alone. We kind of hung out at the cabin for a while and then went back into town to you dinner. This time we had Italian food that was actually quite good.

My son and I did a little packing and got ready to depart the next day.